Day: 098Date: Sunday, 30 July 2017Start: Junction of PCT with Olallie Lake Trail at Mile 2043.0, 4961 ftFinish: Camped by the trail at Mile 2069.7, 3471 ftDailyMiles: 26.7 PCTTotalPCTMiles: 1529.4Weather: Warm and sunnyAccommodation: TentNutrition: Breakfast: Pancakes and syrup, honeydew melon Lunch: Gorp Dinner: Rehydrated chilli mac with beefAches: Nothing new, very tiredHighlight: After a long day on the trail, I relished relaxing and eating my dinner after setting up camp, surrounded by tall pine trees, the tops of which were illuminated by the setting sun, with not a breath of wind and barely a sound anywhere.Lowlight: None really.Pictures: Click here

Some nearby holiday-makers partied into the small hours and so I didn’t sleep well. Nevertheless, I got up at 5:30am, packed up, and then joined some of my fellow PCT hikers for an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast cooked by our trail angel, Nate. I gave him a donation, and headed back to the trail, via the store and two more Cokes at 7:15am.

Most of the day was spent hiking through the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, though the only visible evidence was a couple of signs. The guide book said we were not allowed to deviate from the trail by more than 100 ft as we passed through the reservation, which wasn’t a problem.

In fact, there was nothing much to do but walk for the whole day, as the trail stayed in the forest without any views. That’s not to say it wasn’t interesting because the forest changed depending on the altitude, with the higher elevations having virtually no undergrowth and the lower elevations having ground cover, rhododendrons, or a fairlyland mossy green carpet.
The trail was easy walking, apart from the hills, and I made good time, though was still very tired when I eventually found a place to camp at 6:45pm.